Machine for bending metal strips.



W. S. FOSTER.

MACHINE FOB. BENDING METAL STRIPS.

APPLICATION FILED PEB.5, 1914.

1,096,233. Patented May12,1914.

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Patented May 12, 1914.

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W. S'. POSTER.

APPLICATION FILED 3mm, 1914.

ATTORNEYS MACHINE FOR BENDING METAL STRIPS.

a m 3 mm 3 I 3: WITNESSES 2 l l fl 'rnn'r WILLIAM S. FOSTER, OF UTICA, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO FOSTER BROTHERS MANU- FACTURING COMPANY, OF UTICA, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION.

MACHINE FOB BENDING METAL STRIPS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 12, 191d.

Application filed February 5, 1914. Serial No. 816,823.

. To (ZZZ whom it may concern Be it .known that I, VILLIAM S. Fos'rnn, of Utica, in the county of Oneida and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Bending Metal Strips; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the reference-numerals marked thereon, which form part of this specification.

This invention relates to machines for bending metal strips such as band iron and the like.

The purpose of my invention is to provide a machine of this class of improved construction which is simple and efiicient in operation and one so formed as to be easily adapted to a great variety of uses.

A further purpose of my invention is to provide a machine that is peculiarly adapted to be easily adjusted to make a great variety of bent metal strips simply by adjusting parts of the machine and without requiring extra forming members.

A still further purpose is to provide an improved machine of the class described that is particularly adapted'to bend metal strips so that they will have a double angle or two oppositely disposed angles at either or both ends at a single operation and in such a machine to provide means whereby the distance between the several angles may be readily changed without requiring new arts.

P The machine herein illustrated and clescribed is adapted to form the band iron strips into the shape commonly used to sup.- port cone springs in upholstered furniture. It will be obvious, however, that the ma chine as illustrated may be used to bend metal strips for a great variety of purposes or by changing the dimensions of the machine or the angles of its forming blocks in an obvious manner machines may be produced for a still greater variety of uses without departing from the spirit of this invention.

Figure 1 is a plan view of a machine em bodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a perpendicular sectional view on line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perpendicular sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Figs. 4 and 5 are edge views of metal strips of different length that may be bent by my machine. Figs. 6-9 are edge views of metal strips bent into various forms by my machine.

Upon a suitable frame work 11 is rigidly mounted the bed 12 of the machine of such dimensions as may be required considering the purposes of the particular machine. ()ppositely disposed upon the bed 12 are two platforms 13 adjustably mounted on said bed so as to be readily moved toward or from each other and held in desired position as by bolts 14: extending through holes in.

the platforms and then through longitudinal slots 15 in the bed 12. The platforms may be further confined to longitudinal movement upon the bed by means of strips 16 projecting upwardly along the two sides of the bed and bearing against the ends of the platforms 13.

Upon the platforms 13 are fixed forming blocks 17 having the ends 18 of their respective faces 19 in alinement with each other and the said faces 19 slanting to one side from said line and as the machine is here illustrated to the front or near side of the machine. Upon each platform 13 opposite the forming block 17 is a fixed holding block 20 having its holding face 21 opposite the line extending from the ends 18 of the faces 19 upon the forming block 17 and spaced therefrom a suflicient distance to admit therebetween a strip of metal 22 of the thickness for which the machine is adapted to be used. 3 Upon each platform 13 is adjustably mounted a forming block23 having the inner end 24; of its face 25 adjoining the face 19 of the fixed forming block while the said face 25 extends at the desired angle from the face 19 of the fixed forming block. The block 23 is adapted to be moved along the face 19 and toward or from a line extended from the alined ends 18 of the faces 19. Set bolts 25 extending through slots 26 in the block 23 into the platform 13 hold the block 23 in desired position. An upward projection 27 upon the platform 13 hearing against the outer edge of the block 23 may further confine the movement of said block 23 to movement in the desired direction.

Upon each platform 13 is provided a movable formingblock 28 having its faces 29 and 30 at such an angle to each other as to lit into the re'ntering angle formed by face 19 upon the fixed forming block 17 and face 25 upon the adjustable forming block 23. This forming block 28 is secured to lever 31 which has its inner end pivoted at 32 at a point on the inner side of the platform 13 as upon the holding block 20 so that a swinging motion imparted to said lever 31 moves the projecting angle of the two faces 29 and 80 of said block 28 toward or from the reentering angle of faces 19 and 25. The block 28 is so adjustably mounted upon the lever 31 as by bolts 33 extending through holes in said lever and through slot-s 34 in said block that as adjustable block 23 is adjusted to po sitions farther back or front along face 19 of the fixed forming block 17 a corresponding adjustment may be given the movable forming block 28. To secure greater accu racy and rigidity in adjustment of this block 28, set screws 35 engaging the outer side of the block 28 are provided in a cross piece 36 rigidly secured to lever 81. As convenient means for imparting the desired swinging motion to levers 31 in unison connecting rods 87 are pivotally connected at 88 to the outer ends of said levers 31 while the inner ends of the said connecting rods are pivotally connected at 39 to clamps 10 adjustably mounted upon a laterally reciprocating beam etl which near its two ends is slidingly mounted between guide-ways 42 suitably provided upon the frame 11 while its ends projecting therebeyond are rounded to form wrist pins 43 which are engaged by one end of pitmen 441 in the other end of which are mounted crank pins 15 of cranks 46 secured to the opposite ends of a driven shaft 41-7 suitably journaled in the bearings 48 upon the frame work 11 of the machine. The clamps 49 may be adjusted to varying positions upon the beam 41 as by through-bolts 419 extending tln'ough the slots 50 in said beam. Preferably as indicated in the draw ings, the faces 19 upon the fixed forming block 17, the faces 25 upon the adjustable forming blocks 23 and the faces 30 upon the movable forming blocks 28 will be formed in sections separate from said forming blocks so as to be readily replaceable upon slight wear if necessary instead of replacing a whole block, the said faces being rigidly secured in place upon the blocks as by headed screws (not shown) countersunk into said faces and extending into said blocks. In this way also the faces if desired may be formed of hardened steel to wear longer, which material is not necessary in the block itself.

The operation of the machine will be as follows: The operator will place one of the strips of metal 22 between the holding blocks 20 and the alined ends 18 of the faces 19 with one or both ends projecting from therebetweenl It will be understood that when the strip 22 is thus placed into the machine the movable forming blocks 28 are withdrawn or moved to the rear of the machine sufficiently to allow the said strip to pass down against the platforms 13 without engaging the movable forming blocks 28. On the next forward movement of the movable blocks 28 caused by the rotation of the shaft 47 in an obvious manner, said blocks engage the projecting ends of the strip 22 some distance out from the ends 18 of faces 19 and bend said projecting ends forwardly until the said projecting ends of the metal strips are forced snugly into the rentering angle between the faces 19 and 25 by the near approach thereinto of the projecting angle of faces 29 and 80. On further rotation of the shaft 47 the movable forming blocks 28 are withdrawn from. contact with the metal strip and toward their original position upon the commencement of which rearward movement the metal strip now bent to a shape similar to that shown in Figs. (39 will be removed and as soon as the movable forming blocks are beyond a line extended from the alined ends 18 another metal strip will be placed in position in the machine ready for the next forward or working movement of the movable forming blocks. During the bending operation the middle portion of the metal strip 22 is kept straight by being supported for a sufficient distance toward its central point by the fixed holding blocks 20 which extend from opposite the end 18 of face 19 for some distance toward the middle of the strip or as shown, to the inner edge of the platform 13. As inward from the end 18 there is no liability of the metal strip being forced inward or to the front, the fixed forming blocks 17 as illustrated do not have to closely approach the front side of the strip. The slight clearance atthis point allows for the entrance into the machine of strips which have forwardly offset portions such as 51, commonly present upon metal strips to be used for supporting upholstery springs. The ends 18 of faces 19 support the front side of the metal strips for a suiticient distance back from the adjacent bending point to prevent any distortion of the strips. From this point outwardly each end of the metal strip will be entirely inclosed between opposing forming faces of the machine during the ultimate pressing or bend.- ing act-ion so that the strips will be bent smoothly and with uniformity.

If it is desired to bend metal strips having a shorter central portion, one or both platforms may be loosened and moved to ward the other upon loosening throughbolts 14 upon the platform and throughbolts 49 upon the clamps 10. If the metal strip is to have a longer central portion the platforms and their connected parts will be in a similar manner moved outwardly. If the portion of the metal strip between its two angles at either end is to be lengthened or shortened one or both as needed of the adjustable forming blocks 23 will be loosened and moved forward or rearward as desired and its opposing movable forming block similarly adjusted upon its lever 31. It will be obvious that within the range of the machine these adjustments with one set of blocks will form a great variety of bent strips having similar angles. Bent strips of different angles may be formed by substituting another set of blocks having thereon the desired angle.

A gage 52 may be adjusted upon the bed 12 by means of set screws 53 whereby any projection or offset such as 51 upon the metal strips may be utilized to place the strips in proper position in the machine.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a machine for bending metal strips, the combination of a block support, a holding block thereon, a forming block on said support having one end of its face opposite and spaced from said holding block and having its face slanting therefrom, an adjustably mounted second forming block having one end of its face adjoining the face of said first forming block and forming an angle therewith, a third forming block having its two faces adapted to fit said angle and adjustable to various positions according to the adjustment of said second forming block and mounted to be moved to and from said angle and means for so moving said third forming block.

2. In a machine for bending metal strips, the combination of a block support, a holding block thereon, a forming block on said support having one end of its face opposite and spaced from said holding block and having its face slanting therefrom, an adjustably mounted second forming block having one end of its face adjoining the face of said first forming block and forming a reentering angle therewith, a third forming block having its two faces adapted to fit into said reentering angle and adjustable to various positions according to the adjustment of said second forming block and mounted to be moved to and from said reentering angle and means for so moving said third forming block.

3. In a machine for bending metal strips, the combination of a block support, two oppositely disposed forming blocks having one end of their faces in line with each other and having said faces slanting to one side from said line, holding blocks opposite the said alined face ends, an adjustably mounted second pair of forming blocks each having one end of its face adjoining the face of one of the first forming blocks and forming a reentering angle therewith, a third pair of forming blocks each having their two faces adapted to fit into one of said reentering angles and each adjustable to various positions according to the adjustment of said second pair of forming blocks and mounted to be moved to and from said re'elntering angle and means for so moving said third pair of blocks.

4. In a machine for bending metal strips, the combination of a block support, two oppositely disposed forming blocks having one end of their faces in line with each other and having said faces slanting to one side from said line, holding blocks opposite the said alined face ends, an adjustably mounted second pair of forming blocks each having one end of its face adjoining the face of one of the first forming blocks and forming a reentering angle therewith, a third pair of forming blocks each having their two faces adapted to fit into one of said reentering angles and each adjustable to various positions according to the adjustment of said second pair of forming blocks and mounted to be moved to and from said rentering angle and means for so moving said third pair of blocks in unison.

5. In a machine for bending metal strips, the combination of a bed, two oppositely disposed platforms mounted on said bed in adjustable relation to each other, a fixed forming block on each of said platforms having one end of the face thereof in line with each other and having said faces slanting to one side from said line, a holding block on each of said platforms opposite the said alined face ends, a second forming block on each of said platforms having one end of its face adjoining the face of the first forming block and forming a reentering angle therewith, a third forming block upon each of said platforms each having two faces adapted to fit into one of said reentering angles and each mounted to be moved to and from said reentering angle and means for so moving said movable blocks.

6. In a machine for bending metal strips, the combination of a bed, two oppositely disposed platforms mounted on said bed in adjustable relation to each other, a fixed forming block on each of said platforms having one end of the face thereof in line with each other and having said faces slanting to one side from said line, a holding block on each of said platforms opposite the said alined face ends, a second forming block on each of said platfo-rms having one end of its face adjoining the face of the first forming block and forming a reentering angle therewith, a third forming block upon each of said platforms each having two faces adapted to fit into one of said reentering angles and each mounted to be moved to and from said reentering angle and means for so moving said movable blocks in unison.

7. In a machine for bending metal strips, the combination of a bed, two oppositely disposed platforms mounted on said bed in ad justable relation to each other, a fixed forming block on each of said platforms having on end of the face thereof in line with each other and having said faces slanting to one side from said line, a holding block on each of said platforms opposite the said alined face ends, an adjustably mounted forming block on each of said platforms having one end of its face adjoining the face of the fixed forming block and forming a reentering angle therewith, a third forming block upon each of said platforms each having two faces adapted to fit into one of said reentering angles and each adjustable to various positions according to the adjustment of said second pair of forming blocks and each mounted to be moved to and from said reentering angle and means for so moving said movable blocks.

8. In a machine for bending metal strips, the combination of a bed, two oppositely dis posed platforms mounted on said bed in adjustable relation to each other, a fixed forming block on each of said platforms having one end of the face thereof in line with each other and having said faces slanting to one side from said line, a holding block on each of 30 said platforms opposite the said alined face ends, an adjus-tably mounted forming block on each of said platforms having one end of its face adjoining the face of the fixed forming block and forming a reentering angle 35 therewith, a third forming block upon each of said platforms each having two faces adapted to fit into one of said reentering angles and each adjustable to various positions according to the adjustment of said 4 second pair of forming blocks and each mounted to be moved to and from said reentering angle and means for so moving said movable blocks in unison.

In witness whereof I have affixed my sig- 45 nature, in the presence of two witnesses, this 15th day of January, 1914.

H. T. Owens.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each,

by addressing" the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington; D. G. 

